The polls opened at 6 a.m. for Election Sunday 2010 in Haiti Sunday morning. Or at least they were supposed to. Many polls were chaotic and opened at least an hour late to the crowds waiting to vote in the ravaged post-earthquake Haiti, currently facing a spreading cholera epidemic.

The poll lists were filled with the names of those who died in the earthquake and many names weren’t found at all leaving many turned away and fearing political violence.

Some people are claiming widespread fraud, and that voters were taking advantage of all the chaos to vote multiple times.

One man was shot to death at a polling place in rural Artibonite, Radio Vision 2000 reported, though no details were available.

Ninety-six contenders are competing for 11 Senate seats and more than 800 more are seeking to fill the 99-seat lower house.

But the focus is on the presidential contest. Nineteen candidates are on the ballot, though many Haitians believe the race comes down to a man who is not: outgoing President Rene Preval, who was barred by law from running again.

Wyclef Jean, whose own bid for president ended with an August disqualification, was in Haiti on Sunday. Jean supporters said on Twitter that the Haitian-American singer would not be publicly endorsing anyone — a blow to any candidate hoping for a last-minute boost from his legions of young fans.

More than 4.7 million voters are registered on electoral lists. Monitors with the United Nations and Organization of American States acknowledge that hundreds of thousands are people who died in the earthquake, while many living voters have not received their voter cards or are unsure where their polling places are.

With AP